SONICreflection is a sound installation that explore and investigate sonic territories and sonic tension in an urban city like Singapore. Singapore, being a melting pot has attracted a lot of migration to the city. Most of the countries in Southeast Asia have set up their little towns in Singapore, bringing their cultures and traditions. We have Little Thailand, Little Myanmar, Little Vietnam, Little Philippines and so forth. Each of this town is so distinct in terms of culture, food and sound. These little towns have their own sonic characteristics. With this sonic characteristic, it creates sonic territories of each town. I am interested to do sound recordings of these places. All these recordings will be layered together with found sound in Singapore like e.g city sound, MRT, markets, nature sounds, coffee shops and shopping malls.

These recorded sound recordings will be transmitted using multiple tweeters mounted on wok lids. Wok is predominantly used in Southeast Asia for cooking. Wok lid is being used to cover or protect the dishes. In a way is like protecting each of their cultures. In this work, it reveals and exposes using sound. The tweeters will be faced inwards to reflect the sound to transmit it widely. These recorded sound will be group according to the town e.g 10 tweeters represent one town. It will be played back at different times and also at one point all will be played simultaneously. On top of that, I will be using pencil microphones to amplify the physical space. I am interested to experience whether this will create sonic tension in one physical space.

In this work I am creating a structure using copper pipes with different thickness and depth on the wall. 512 pieces of solenoids will be mounted on the copper pipes at different places of the structure. There will be a composition on how the solenoids will be triggered to hit the copper pipes. The composition will last for 20mins and then it will go on a loop. The sound will travel from one place to another and also it will create a dialog with the space. Audience will be able to listen when they walk passed the tunnel space. The sound created by the solenoids hitting the pipes will correspond to the acoustic of the tunnel space at esplanade. The work also explores the aural architecture of the space and challenge the audience perception when listening to sound.

SONIC Tower is an expansion of Alice, Did you hear that?, a sound installation which is being showcased at Singapore: Inside Out. It is inspired by Alice in Wonderland and also by a book by Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter, Spaces speak, are you listening? In Alice in Wonderland, most of the things that Alice discovered are very visual and seldom sound are being portrayed. In Spaces speak, are you listening?, explores the idea of aural architecture in urban spaces and also our ability to listen and not hear. So in this work, I am trying explore the idea of discovery living in urban city through sound. Most of us treat these sounds as noises and completely rejected them.

Every environment has an aural architecture. The audible attributes of physical space have always contributed to the fabric of human culture, as demonstrated by prehistoric multimedia cave paintings, classical Greek open-air theaters, Gothic cathedrals, acoustic geography of French villages, modern music reproduction, and virtual spaces in home theaters. Auditory spatial awareness is a prism that reveals a culture’s attitudes toward hearing and space. Aural architecture is not the exclusive domain of specialists. Accidentally or intentionally, we all function as aural architects.

In total there will be 4 zones with 320 solenoids and LED lights where the solenoids will be attached to the scaffoldings. Each zone, there will be 64 solenoids controlled by 1 microcontroller. These solenoids will hit on the surface of the scaffoldings and the LED lights will glow by programming them in a composition format. Each composition will last about 10-15 mins and then it will go on loop. In a way the structure will become “alive and playful”. Audience will be able to listen and discover the composition when they explore the different spaces of the exhibition.